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1 comment for “Leftover links for November 7, 2012”

Rand

November 8, 2012 at 12:26 PM

I’m not so sure about the GMO labeling thing. I mean, genetically modifying the corn in our food may be harmless… (example, nobody would complain if it is modified to produce more vitamins and be healthier to eat) but the real worry is about exactly what properties did they modify it to have? Typically, it’s things like causing the corn to be resistant to their herbicides so that farmers can heap on tons more of the stuff, since the weeds it is supposed to kill become resistant to it — which I would consider to be a valid environmental concern, as well as increasing the amount of residual chemicals remaining on food –, or making the corn naturally produce pesticides (“All Natural!!!”), however, since it’s still “just corn” they don’t have to test it for safety, or identify that there are now trace levels of poison in it which can accumulate in our bodies… “Franken food” isn’t automatically bad (there’s basically nothing we eat anymore which *hasn’t* been modified by humans over the course of thousands of years), but still, I trust the companies who currently are pushing this stuff as far as I can spit. They don’t give a damn about our health or food safety, all they care about is selling product. And hiding any negative effects of their modifications to the food supply can have is just good business to them.

In my view just slapping on a generic “GMO” label on products would of course be totally useless and pointless, since it does not contain any useful information. But throwing on a label such as “This corn in this product has been modified to naturally produce pesticide XXX to increase crop yields, trace levels of this chemical may remain in this product. The effects of this chemical has not been evaluated for safety” would be something I want to know… Some GMO is harmless, but other GMO may be detrimental.

Call me skeptical if you want, but I’m not sure can always trust some of these companies to have our best interest at heart when they produce their products, or to tell the truth about the safety of their products. Many of the pesticides and herbicides these companies have sold in the past (and claimed to be harmless) have turned out to have drastic negative environmental and health effects (and later banned because of it). Just because they are causing the plants themselves to produce these chemicals does not magically make those chemicals safe…. And I’m not sure we should just take their word that their product’s are safe… because in the past, that has often not turned out to be the case.

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